Commonwealth Architects on Team Selected by VCU for Student Housing Project

September 6, 2011

The design/build team of Commonwealth Architects with S.B. Ballard Construction Co. and Niles Bolton Associates was selected by Virginia Commonwealth University to construct a new residence hall. The project's cost is anticipated to be $33.7 million. It will increase VCU's student housing with a five-story dormitory on West Grace Street.

"The West Grace Street North housing project will add 388 beds in a mix of apartments and efficiency units. Construction is planned to begin early next year, and the residence hall is scheduled to be ready for the fall semester of 2013," said Brian J. Ohlinger, associate vice president for facilities management, in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article. "This will be VCU's latest residence hall that will give them a total of about 5,820 beds, nearing the university's goal of 6,000 total beds on campus."

The building will include a "living/learning" center for international education that will provide residential and classroom facilities for VCU's international students.

"We are very pleased to have been selected as part of the design/build team for this project. We have a well-established working relationship with VCU and look forward to designing a facility that will help meet the university's current needs for student housing to accommodate a growing student population," said Lee Shadbolt, a principal with Commonwealth Architects.

This is one of the latest higher education contracts awarded to Commonwealth Architects. The firm specializes in rehabilitation projects and the design of new facilities for colleges and universities across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currently, the Richmond firm has projects underway on the campuses of Virginia State University, Saint Paul's College and Virginia Military Institute.